1. Haitian Creole/Kreyòl Ayisyen
Language Sketch:
Haitian Creole/Kreyòl Ayisyen
Brieanne Conklin
Chris Perkins

2. Map

3. Introduction Official name: Kreyòl Creole classification
Population of over 7 million

4. Related Languages
French (regional and colloquial varieties from 17th and 18th centuries)
African language influence
Kwa group of West Africa
Bantu languages of Central Africa
Minimal Amerindian language influence
Haiti (Ayiti)—Arawak or Carib meaning ‘vast land of mountains’
Only very few lexical influences

5. Sociolinguistic Background
Settlement History
Very small aboriginal survival of Spanish rule
~1625 Europeans (French), along with a few African slaves began to settle the area
1664 Louis XIV claimed the West of the island
Growth of slave population due to indigo, coffee, sugarcane, tobacco, cotton and cacao industry.
Led to classic plantation colony with distinctive Creole culture and Creole language
1697 Spanish recognition of French claim to Saint-Dominigue (Haiti)

6. Sociolinguistic Background
Settlement History
Slave population
1681~2,000 (approx. 1/3 of total pop.)
1791~700,000 (approx. 92% of total pop.)
Haiti became richest French colony providing 1/3 of French foreign trade
Struggle for independence had already begun which succeeded in 1803

7. Sociolinguistic Background
Sociolinguistic Variation
Official languages: French and Haitian Creole
All Haitians speak Haitian Creole, but only 10% are considered bilingual in French and H.C.
Fluency in French carries higher status
Traditional Uses
Haitian used in everyday interactions
French used in schools, government, official documents, etc.
Not allowed to be used for instruction and education until 1979

8. Basic Word Order Follows SVO word order typical of French
Passive structure takes on common S-Aux-V-O
Only questions divert from French using SVO+rising intonation exclusively

9. Morphology

10. Morphology-cont’d

11. Phonological Features
Regional variation makes it difficult to standardize a a phonological description...
General phonology similar to French
17 consonants (Hall 1953):
Bilabial/ Labiodental
Dental
Palatal or Velar
Plosive
p b
t d
k g
Fricative or Sibilant
f v
s z
š ž
Nasal m n ŋ
Lateral l
Spirant r

12. Phonological Features (Cont’d)
Vowels
Front Back
Close i u
e o
є ò
Open a
Other Vowels:
[an] manman
[єn] bєnyєn
[wi] uit

13. Phonological Features (cont’d)
Determiners
Unlike French, determiners do not reflect gender
Instead, there are several alternants of the determiner /la/:
la ~ a ~ an ~ lan ~ nan
Form is selected based on phonological environment

14. Syntactic Features
Determiners and possessive pronouns occur after the noun:
poul ki kouvri pitit li ak-zèl li
chicken REL cover little 3sg with wing 3sg
‘a hen covering her chickens with her wings’ (Arends et al)
dénié vwayaj la
last trip DET
‘the last trip’ (Hall 1953)

15. Syntactic Features Personal Pronouns: mwen 1sg nou 1pl & 2pl
ou 2sg yo 3pl
li 3sg
No gender distinction
No distinction between 1st person plural & 2nd person plural
Used for subject and object

16. Syntactic Features (cont’d)
Present tense “to be” verb not used
Li malad / Li nan jaden an
3sg sick / sg in garden DET
‘He is sick’ / ‘He is in the garden’
Markers used for other tenses
Li te malad / Li te anba tab la
3sg was sick / 3sg was under table DET
‘He was sick’ / ‘He was under the table’
(DeGraff)

17. Syntactic Features (cont’d)
Negation
French negation: “ne ...(verb)... pas”
Haitian Creole retains ‘pa’ in negation; however, it functions more like the French “ne”
H.C. Li pa jam tro ta pou chien anraje
3sg NEG ever too late for dog go mad (Arends et al)
French Ce n’ est jamais trop tard pour un chien enrager
It NEG is never too late for a dog to go mad
‘It’s never too late for a dog to go mad’

18. Sources
Arends, J. et al. (1995). Pidgins and Creoles: An Introduction. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
DeGraff, Michel. Comparativ e Creole Syntax. London, U.K. Westminster Creolistics Series, Battlebridge Publications
--Morphology in Creole genesis: Linguistics and ideology. (2001). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Haitians: Their History and Culture.
Hall, R.A. (1953). Haitian Creole: Grammar, Texts, Vocabulary. Menasha, Wisconsin: American Anthropological Association.